Inside the Star

Ashley Smith: Prison videos to be shown in court

“Shocking and disturbing” prison surveillance videos of teenage inmate Ashley Smith, which Correctional Service Canada has fought for years to keep secret, will be screened publicly Wednesday in coroner’s court.

Thirty-two clips assembled from surveillance videos
showing the mistreatment of Ashley Smith in prisons across the country will be screened publicly in coroner's court.

By:Diana ZlomislicToronto Star, Published on Tue Oct 23 2012

“Shocking and disturbing” prison surveillance videos of teenage inmate Ashley Smith, which Correctional Service Canada has fought for years to keep secret, will be screened publicly on Wednesday in coroner’s court.

That’s if the prison service doesn’t attempt what the Smith family’s lawyer called one last “ridiculous Hail Mary.”

Lawyers for the Correctional Service told the inquest they may seek a judicial review of the coroner’s decision on Tuesday allowing the videos to be played.

The Star has learned that the footage in question consists of 32 minutes of clips assembled from at least seven different surveillance videos showing the mistreatment of the 19-year-old woman in prisons across the country.

Dr. John Carlisle ruled the Correctional Service’s argument for keeping the videos secret were without merit.

He said there was “no evidentiary basis” for the Correctional Service’s assertions that releasing the videos might lead to a “possible tainting of the jury pool or possible harassment of witnesses.”

Carlisle also dismissed the Correctional Service’s application for an adjournment.

“The concern raised regarding the safety of other inmates in the prison system revealed by the circumstances of the death in this matter is . . . substantial,” Carlisle told the inquest. “We need to get on with examining the circumstances of the death and obtaining well-thought-through recommendations. These recommendations have the real potential to save lives.”

Carlisle’s ruling comes on the same day Canada’s prison watchdog released its www.oci-bec. gc. caannual reportEND showing the number and prevalence of serious self-injury incidents in prisons across the country has tripled since Smith’s death. The cases were reminiscent of the head banging, self-mutilation and self-strangulation Smith frequently engaged in.

Smith died five years ago inside a segregation cell at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener. The 19-year-old choked herself to death with a strip of cloth while guards, instructed not to intervene before she stopped breathing, watched.

Punted to the adult system at age 18 after she was found guilty of stealing a CD and throwing crabapples at a postal worker in her hometown of Moncton, N.B., Smith was imprisoned for 11 months in several institutions across the country. During that time, she was held primarily in solitary confinement cells and her self-harm attempts became more frequent.

The out-of-province prison surveillance videos depict Smith being duct-taped to the seat of an airplane, being forcibly tranquilized by health workers as guards in riot gear watched and strapped to a metal gurney while wearing a wet gown for hours without food or water, records show.

Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, has called the videos “shocking and disturbing.”

Julian Falconer, the Smith family’s lawyer, praised Carlisle for refusing to let the prison service hold the inquest process “hostage.”

“This is an important day,” he said. “What I think is going to be truly sad is if Correctional Services continues in this absolutely reckless direction.”

The family has argued that Smith’s treatment throughout her time in federal prisons contributed to her deteriorating mental state and frequent self-harm attempts.

Smith’s family, supported by the provincial children’s advocate and Elizabeth Fry, argues the inquest must examine the teen’s treatment in institutions outside Ontario if deaths in similar circumstances are to be prevented.

Media lawyer Paul Schabas, representing the Toronto Star, the CBC and the National Post at Tuesday’s hearing, said the prison service’s motion was “utterly untenable in law” and defied the Charter of Rights and the open court principle.

The Correctional Service was the only party of nine seeking a publication ban.

The videos will form the heart of Wednesday’s arguments about the inquest’s scope.

A group of doctors covered by a malpractice insurer and supported by the Correctional Service has taken issue with the coroner’s decision to examine Smith’s entire 11 months in custody.

They say Carlisle’s authority to examine Smith’s death ends in Ontario.

Proceedings will resume at 9 a.m.

This is the second inquest into Smith’s death.

The first was derailed when the presiding coroner, Dr. Bonita Porter, retired after months of intense legal wrangling over the transparency and scope of the inquest.

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